Have you ever bought a romance without looking at the blurb on the back? It had a beautiful cover and your favorite author wrote it so you didn't bother looking at the back before you went to the register and happily gave the cashier your money.

So now snuggling into your favorite reading chair, beverage and snacks at your elbow, you open the cover and start to read. And almost choke on your Coke. The hero's name is Elmer and the heroine is Beulah. What do you do? Do you keep reading, or do you put the book down?

As I pointed out in a previous post, I'm a little twisted. I'd keep reading because thecharacters had such unattractive names. I'd want to know what love between Elmer and Beulah looks like. I've read the stories of the exotic people (some had names I couldn't pronounce) so the change might be refreshing. Romance has changed over the years. The heroes and heroines are not always outrageously beautiful or have rocking hot bodies. Why not have out of the norm names?

I may be dating myself here but does anybody remember the movie 'She Devil' starring Roseanne Barr and MerylStreep? Meryl Streep played a romance author whose writing became a little weird after she and her lover stopped getting along. Her agent told her that her latest book wasn't good and one of the reasons was because the hero was named Bob.

Do you remember the romance novels from the 80's? The heroines were virgins (depending on which line you were reading) and the heroes were experienced, brooding millionaires. When I got older I quickly got bored with the virgins and started reading about more experienced heroines. That's when I found out that apparently, I wasn't having great sex. When the h/h finally hit the sheets, it was, for lack of a better term, unbelievable. They were "riding on the crest of the wave" or "doing a dance as old as time itself," and my favorite, "felt like a volcano ready to erupt." One of the heroines actually passed out. Really? Fast forward to the romance novels of today. My fave has become paranormals. Heroes and heroines are vampires,werewolves, sorcerers. There's some seriously twisted stuff in some of them, and I love it. It's different, exciting, abnormal. Even the unbelievably erotic sex is well done. I don't mean to suggest that contemporary romance isn't just as good. I still read it and enjoy it, if the story is strong. But it has to have a twist. There has to be something there that makes me keep turning the pages. Throw a crazy villain in there and I'm hooked. What keeps you turning the pages?

About Me

A dreamer. That's how I would describe myself. Come to think of it, that's how most people would describe me. It's one of the reasons I fell in love with paranormal romances.
I live in Atlanta, Ga, with the man of my dreams. We met in Korea while serving in the armed forces and after a two month courtship, got married. We've been together 21 years.